Russia's Rosneft Forges New Oil Pact With Shell

By

Beno&icirc;t Faucon

Updated July 10, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

LONDON -- A new cooperation deal between Royal Dutch Shell PLC and state-owned Russian oil company OAO Rosneft underscores how Russia is continuing to seek foreign investors as minority partners in oil and gas projects, even after unwinding some deals it signed with them in the 1990s.

It also confirms the country's strategy of using those same investors to help its energy companies expand beyond Russian borders.